H.B. No. 321
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a speed limit for school buses.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 166(a), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-5 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 (a) No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed
1-8 greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances then
1-9 existing. Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower
1-10 speeds for compliance with paragraph (b) of this Section, the
1-11 limits specified in this Section or established as hereinafter
1-12 authorized shall be lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits
1-13 specified in this Section or established as hereinafter authorized
1-14 shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or
1-15 prudent and that it is unlawful:
1-16 1. Thirty (30) miles per hour in any urban district,
1-17 except as provided by Subdivision 1A of this paragraph;
1-18 1A. Fifteen (15) miles per hour on an alley;
1-19 2. Seventy (70) miles per hour during the daytime and
1-20 sixty-five (65) miles per hour during the nighttime for any
1-21 passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle on any State or
1-22 Federal numbered highway outside any urban district, including
1-23 farm- and/or ranch-to-market roads, and sixty (60) miles per hour
1-24 during the daytime and fifty-five (55) miles per hour during the
2-1 nighttime for any passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle
2-2 on all other highways outside any urban district;
2-3 3. Sixty (60) miles per hour for all other vehicles on
2-4 any highway outside any urban district;
2-5 4. The speed limits for any bus or other vehicle
2-6 engaged in this State in the business of transporting passengers
2-7 for compensation or hire, for any commercial vehicle which is in
2-8 authorized use as a "Highway Post Office" vehicle furnishing
2-9 Highway Post Office service in the transportation of the United
2-10 States mail, and for any light truck, as described in Subdivision 5
2-11 of this subsection, shall be the same as prescribed for passenger
2-12 cars at the same location.
2-13 5. The above limitations notwithstanding, the
2-14 following prima facie maximum limits are declared, for any highway
2-15 outside any urban district;
2-16 a. Forty-five (45) miles per hour for any
2-17 vehicle towing any house trailer of actual or registered gross
2-18 weight exceeding four thousand, five hundred (4,500) pounds or with
2-19 an over-all length exceeding thirty-two (32) feet, excluding the
2-20 tow bar.
2-21 b. Sixty (60) miles per hour in daytime and
2-22 fifty-five (55) miles per hour during nighttime for any truck,
2-23 except light trucks as described in this Subdivision 5, truck
2-24 tractor, trailer or semitrailer, or for any vehicle towing any
2-25 trailer, semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or any house trailer
2-26 of actual or registered gross weight, less than four thousand, five
2-27 hundred (4,500) pounds and over-all length of thirty-two (32) feet
3-1 or less, excluding the tow bar.
3-2 c. Fifty-five (55) <Fifty (50)> miles per hour
3-3 for any school bus on an interstate highway, as defined by Section
3-4 144 of this Act, and fifty (50) miles per hour for any school bus
3-5 on another highway.
3-6 "Daytime" means from one-half (1/2) hour before sunrise to
3-7 one-half (1/2) hour after sunset, and "nighttime" means at any
3-8 other hour.
3-9 "Urban District" means the territory contiguous to and
3-10 including any highway or street which is built up with structures
3-11 devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses, situated at
3-12 intervals of less than one hundred (100) feet for a distance of
3-13 one-quarter (1/4) of a mile or more on either side.
3-14 "Passenger car" means every motor vehicle, except motorcycles
3-15 and motor-driven cycles, designed for carrying ten (10) passengers
3-16 or less and used for the transportation of persons.
3-17 "Light truck" means any truck, as defined in this Act, with a
3-18 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity not to exceed two thousand
3-19 (2,000) pounds and is intended to include those trucks commonly
3-20 known as pick-up trucks, panel delivery trucks and carry-all
3-21 trucks.
3-22 The maximum speed limits set forth in this Section may be
3-23 altered as authorized in Sections 167, 168 and 169.
3-24 SECTION 2. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply
3-25 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
3-26 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before
3-27 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
4-1 occurred before that date.
4-2 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
4-3 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
4-4 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
4-5 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-6 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.